Refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi thanked Australians on his return home on Tuesday, hours after the threat of extradition to Bahrain was lifted and more than two months after he was detained in Thailand.

Hundreds of supporters carrying welcome signs and singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" were waiting at Melbourne Airport when Al-Araibi arrived on a commercial flight direct from Bangkok.

"I would like to say thanks to Australia," Al-Araibi told the cheering crowd. "It's amazing to see all of the...

Thai prosecutors submitted a request in court Friday for Thailand to extradite to Bahrain a detained football player who has refugee status in Australia.

Hakeem al-Araibi, a former player on Bahrain's national team, has said he fled his home country due to political repression and human rights groups and activists fear he risks torture if he is sent back. Bahrain wants him returned to serve a 10-year prison sentence he received in absentia in 2014 for vandalising a police station, which he denies.

Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is set to join the UEFA executive committee, despite the French club being under financial investigation and the Qatari himself being embroiled in criminal proceedings.

Al-Khelaifi was elected Wednesday by the European Club Association board to be one of its two delegates on UEFA's main policy-making panel. His position on the executive committee still has to be ratified next week by the UEFA Congress in Rome, a decision that could test the organisation's...

Former Socceroos captain Craig Foster will meet with world body FIFA armed with more than 50,000 petition signatures demanding the release of detained football player Hakeem al-Araibi.

Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) representative Foster will hold talks with FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura at the world body's Zurich headquarters on Monday night in his campaign to secure Hakeem's release from a Thai prison. Al-Araibi has been detained in Bangkok for the past two months while the Bahrain...

The Thai government has been asked by FIFA's leadership to release a Bahraini football player who is in detention while embroiled in extradition proceedings despite having refugee status in Australia.

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura called for an urgent "humane outcome" to the case of Hakeem al-Araibi, who lives in Melbourne but was arrested while on vacation in Thailand last month on an Interpol notice.